Would you look for your wedding dress at TJ Maxx? 🙈

Let’s say that Dolly Parton is hosting a party and you’re the guest of honor. All eyes will be on you. You have to find the perfect outfit, duh. Your outfit has to match the vibe of the event, you need to feel fantastic in it, and you know that the general public will see the photos and feel quite confident expressing their opinions until the end of time.

🛍  Where would you go to find this outfit? 

You’d go to a store where a knowledgeable human being will work one-on-one with you to show you options that match your requirements, where they will help you in the fitting room to assess what can and cannot be tailored, and where they can pull stock from the back that just arrived, or from other locations, or direct from a designer. You’d be shopping with a specialist whose expertise is in finding you something perfect. 

❌  And where would you NOT go to find your perfect outfit? 

You would not go to TJ Maxx. Now, I don’t have anything against TJ Maxx. I happen to live 15 minutes away from the highest volume TJ Maxx on the east coast, so I definitely understand what gems can be found inside. But that’s exactly the point — you CAN find gems, but you have to sort through a whole lot of rocks. You’re in a big space with a ton of merchandise, much of it not even apparel. Can it be fun to browse the racks with a friend after mimosa brunch? Absolutely. Is it where you’d go if you were seeking something very specific? No. Is it where you’d go if you’d like some helpful assistance? Also, no.

So, of course, in this newsletter, your perfect outfit for Dolly’s party is your brick-and-mortar space. 

Now bear with me as I go on a tangent here to make the point...

For normal people, when we want to find a new house, we go to the internet, and Zillow does the rest. So it’s natural to go to the web to search for retail spaces for rent, and when you do, nine times out of ten, you’ll land on LoopNet.

LoopNet is the most comprehensive online listing of available commercial real estate properties that can be accessed by non-brokers. I’m not going to do a deep dive on LoopNet here, because Abby said that would be boring, and she’s right. But suffice it to say, LoopNet is most definitely NOT the commercial real estate version of Zillow. There are a lot of listings, but the list is by no means comprehensive.

So back to the Dolly analogy…

If we compare shopping for clothes to shopping for retail real estate, LoopNet is TJ Maxx.

When you are looking for a brick-and-mortar space for your business, you have specific needs: budget, location, timeline, site criteria. Also, you have to get the lease deal right, because retail spaces are not returnable – once you sign, you’re committed. You do not want to waste your time browsing the racks, hoping to find the right thing at TJ Maxx. 🪄 You need a personal shopper; a professional broker who has access to CoStar (the more comprehensive service accessible to real estate professionals), a strong network of brokers and landlords who know what’s available off market, and great instincts about what could be modified to suit your needs. Someone who can get you the good stuff. 

What exactly is the good stuff?

• Spaces that match all your criteria
• Spaces that aren’t even on the market
• Spaces that turn the heads of passersby
• Deals that are tailored to your needs
• Deals that give you confidence

You absolutely can and should expect to find the perfect ‘fit (as the kids say) — you just need to know where and how to look for it.